Digit bandage



Aug' 19, 1941- w. D. cAsEY, JR' 2253,108

DIGIT BANDAGE Filed Dec". 19. 1939 thereof.

Patented Aug. 19, 1941 DIGIT BANDAGE yWilliam D. Casey, Jr., Memphis,Tenn., assignor of for-ty per cent to William phis, Tenn.

R.. AJenkins, Mem- Application December 19, 1939, Serial No. 310,052

2 Claims. (Cl. 128-157) This invention relates generally tothe class ofsurgery and pertai'ns particularly to improvements'in bandages.

In the art of bandaging wounds, considerable skill is required forbandaging or covering particular portions of the body so that suchbandage will remain in position, and this applies especially to thebandaging of the ends of the fingers. It is well known that injuries tothe finger tips are extremely difiicult to effectively bandage or coverSo that such bandage will remain in place and at the same time give thenecessary protection to the wound. v

The present invention has for its primary ob.-

' ject to provide a novel type of bandage which is designed primar'ilyfor application to the end of a finger and which is so designed that itmay be easily and quickly applied and will stay in 'place and give thedesired protection to thetpart.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved bandagewhich is so formed that it may be lemployed to cover the end of a fingerand to encircle and' protect the top, inner side and lateral sides ofthe finger also, such bandage being formed in a single piece but dividedin two portions; one of which is employed for covering the end of thefinger and the other for encircling andv protecting 'the sides, innerside and top The invention will be best understood from a considerationof the following detailed description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing forming part of this speciflcation, with theunderstanding, however, that the invention is not to be confined to anystrict conformity with the showing of the drawing but may be changed ormodified so long as such changes or modifica- M tions mark no materialdeparture from the salient features of the invention as expressed in theappended claims. 4

In the drawing-- i Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a bandageconstructed in accordance with the present invention, such bandage beingof the type having a gauze covered portion and portions carryingadhesive so that its application to the injured memcompletely aping, thenumeral I designates as a whole the finger bandage embodying the presentinvention and as is shown, this bandage is'formed in a single piece andas an -elongated strip. This strip of material of which the bandage isformed m-ay be of the usual fabric either plain or waterproofed, whichis employed for the manufacture of adhesive tape, and one side of thestrip is covered with a suitable adhesive and at its transverse centerit has secured to the adhesive face a sterile gauze pad 2, which isapplied over the wound. In accordance with the present invention, thebandage is divided into a major longitudinal portion 3 and a minorlongitudinal portion 4, these portions being in substantially parallelrelation and integrally joined at the transverse center of the bandage,as indicated' at 5. The central connecting portion between the major andminor portions is relativelv narrow, as shown, so that each portion hasend wings which are separate from the wings of the adjacent portion andthe end wingsl of the major portion 3 are indicated by the numeral 6,while those of the'minor portion are indicated by the numeral 1,. Theminor portion 4 of the bandage is of materially less length than themajor portion so' that the ends of the wings 'l terminate short of theends of the wings 6. In addition, theA edges of the wings `6 nearest thewings 'l of the minor portion are slightly longitudinally arcuate, asindicated at 8, so that the outer ends of the wings of the major portionare of increased width. This provides for additional coverage of thesurface of the finger over which the ends of the major portion wingslie, The strip vis provided on its transverse center with apertures 8which permit air to pass through the strip and to reach the woundthroughthegauze pad 2, thus' facilitating healing of the wound.

In the use of the bandage, the transverse central part of the minorportion 4 is placed against the end of the finger, as shown in Fig. 3,and the wings 1 are then folded in to extend along the inner andoutersides of the finger, as is also shown in this figure, and to assumethe positions in which they are shown in Fig. ,2. The attachment of theminor portion to the finger is made, where it is desired lthat the majorpart of the' gauze'pad 2 be brought into position over the top of thefinger or over the finger nail, so that the end of the finger nailengages against the narrow portion 5 which joins the major and minorportions of the bandage together.` This 'permits the transverse centralpart of the major down upon the top of the finger so that this centralpart of the strip will extend transversely of the nail.

The wings 6 of the vmajor portion will then bein position to be foldedaround the finger.

being first turned down in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2, and thenbrought into overlappingv relation across the side or face of the whatis ciaim'ed is:l a 1. A digit banda'ge of the characterstated,comprising an elongated strip of material having an adhesivei coatingover one face, said strip beflngeropposite the side against which themajor portion of the gauze pad 2 is positioned. The

wings 'I of the minor portion will thus be secure-` ly bound againstthesides of the finger by the wings of the major portion and theselatter wings will be secured one to the finger and-thev other one acrossthe top of the firstl one so that they will combine with the wings ofthe minor portion and the intermediate part of the minor portionl toform a' bandage in the shape of a finger cot.`

While in the description vof the application of this bandage and in theIllustration the bandag'e has been set forth as having the major part'ofthe g'auze pad applied to the top or nail of the finger, 'lt will beunderstood that if the indury is upon the'inner side of the finger, theposition of the bandage will be reversed from that in which it is shownin Figs. 3 and 4, so as to bring the major par-t'of the gauze padagainst the inner side of the finger instead of overthe'na'il. It willalso be understood that the present bandage may be eifectively used upona toe as well as upon. a finger.

ing cut longitudinally from each end and at one side of the longitudinalcenter to a point in close proximity t'o the transverse center of thestrip to divide the strip into a major portion and a lminor portion, thesaid portions being integraliy connected at the transverse center of thestrip,

' the part of each' of said portions lying on either cured to thetransverse centers of the two side of the connection forming attachingwings and 'the wings of 'the minor portion being of lesslength thanthose of the major portion.`

l2. Agdigit bandage of the character stated,

comprising two elongated'portions of material i disposed ln paralleledge to edge relation, one of said 'portions .being of greater widththan the other. portion and said portions being joined to- WnLLAM D.cAsEY, Ja.

tions.

